Shohei Ohtani goes five weeks without hitting and suddenly his entire being as a two-way player is under examination again.
About whether he should continue playing both ways in a season in which he turns 32. About whether he should become a full-time hitter.
The questions are being asked for a reason – the Dodgers have lost 10 of their last 17 games and Ohtani is on pace for a 27-homer season – but they also miss the point.
When the Dodgers signed Ohtani as a free agent, they entered the dream-chasing business. Championships were a part of that. But so was providing Ohtani with a platform to do something unprecedented in the sport’s history.
Which is why manager Dave Roberts might occasionally relieve Ohtani of his hitting duties on days he pitches but won’t entertain any major changes in how he is used.
Asked if Ohtani was more valuable to the Dodgers as a hitter or pitcher, Roberts replied, “I try not to get too far in the weeds on that. Because it’s moot. He’s gonna do both.”
Last year, Ohtani was second in the National League in home runs. The year before that, he was first.
This season? His 0.97 earned-run average is the best in the major leagues.
For years, baseball was criticized for lacking a star attraction, and now the sport has a former home-run champion who is a serious Cy Young Award contender. Why would anyone want to scale back his pitching?
He pitched from start to finish in two of his previous eight seasons in the majors, both of them with the Angels. In 2021, he hit 46 homers. In 2022, he hit 34.
Granted, there are legitimate concerns about the Dodgers’ offense.
The lineup is scuffling, and Ohtani’s underwhelming offensive performance is a major part of that. Regardless of whether it’s because his pitching has taken away from his hitting, his offensive numbers are down, even when taking into account that he’s traditionally a slow starter. Entering his team’s series finale in Houston on Wednesday, Ohtani was batting just .240 with six homers.
On the idea of focusing solely on hitting, Ohtani said to reporters in Japanese: “If I’m told, ‘Do it,’ I’ll think about it, of course, if that’s what is best for the team. But personally, I don’t think doing that will improve my form.”
In terms of wins and losses, whatever is being lost offensively isn’t being made up for with pitching. The Dodgers have lost four of the last five games pitched by Ohtani. Going back to last season, they have dropped 11 of the last 14 regular-season games in which Ohtani was on the mound.
An argument could be made that an in-form version of Ohtani in the batter’s box is what makes the Dodgers a great offensive team. When he’s hitting the way he is now, they’re just good. Or when he isn’t in the lineup at all, as was the case on Tuesday when he pitched a season-high seven innings in a 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros, they can be completely helpless.
But the other players on the team share the responsibility for that. Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker aren’t hitting. Freddie Freeman and Will Smith aren’t either.
Shortstop Miguel Rojas said of Ohtani: “He’s doing his job. He’s pitching, he’s doing everything he can to help the team win. And we as an offense need to find ways to score runs for him. It’s not because he’s not in the lineup that we’re not scoring runs.”
The Dodgers were just 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. They should be better than this. They are better than this, and that was a reason for Ohtani to sign with them in the first place. How Ohtani is used shouldn’t determine whether they reach the postseason.
To that point: The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West.
Even with Ohtani hitless in his last 17 at-bats, they’re in first place. Even with the Dodgers mired in a team-wide slump, they’re in first place.
The reality is that baseball season doesn’t really start in Los Angeles until October. If Ohtani wants to spend the next five months pursuing the vision he had in high school of becoming the best pitcher in the world, what difference does it make?
So instead of worrying about what Ohtani isn’t doing, appreciate what he is. On Tuesday night, he pitched seven innings for the first time this season. He struck out eight batters. He gave up two solo homers that resulted in him taking a loss, but the performance counted as a productive step toward the Cy Young Award he is chasing.
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